Tax, Tacitus will be tested again in Travers

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Tax and Tacitus have been running in the same circles since the spring. The two are likely headed for a fifth straight meeting in next month’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes, a race that, depending on who ultimately shows up, figures to have major implications on championship honors in the 3-year-old division.

After finishing behind Tacitus in the Wood Memorial, Kentucky Derby, and Belmont Stakes, Tax finally got the better of Tacitus in Saturday’s Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes. Tax beat Tacitus by three-quarters of a length though Tacitus lost more lengths than that when he stumbled badly at the break.

Both horses seemed to come out of the Jim Dandy in good order, and both Danny Gargan, trainer of Tax, and Bill Mott, trainer of Tacitus, are looking ahead to the Travers, contested at 1 1/4 miles.

“At the end of the race yesterday, he was drawing away,” Gargan said Sunday morning. “I think he’s one of the few horses that can go that far if he sits the trip. I think he’s better stalking, but we’ll always break and get our position. Once he’s out there, he stays there. I’m not worried about the mile and a quarter.”

In the Jim Dandy, Tax broke on top, but jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. was content to surrender the early lead to War of Will, the Preakness winner, who seemed to run off with Tyler Gaffalione down the backstretch. Despite modest fractions, War of Will could not sustain his run, finishing fifth.

Tax won for the first time since he took the Grade 3 Withers by a head over the New York-bred Not That Brady. Since then, he was beaten 1 1/4 lengths by Tacitus in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, finished 15th – placed 14th – in the Kentucky Derby, and finished fourth in the Belmont, 1 3/4 lengths behind Tacitus, who finished second behind Sir Winston.

Gargan believes he Tax is better now than he was in the spring.

“Sometimes horses blossom different times of the year and he seems to be coming into his own right now,” Gargan said. “He’s happier, he has more energy.”

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Tax earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 98 in the Jim Dandy.

Tacitus ran a courageous race to finish second in the Jim Dandy. He almost went to his nose soon after the gates opened, but appeared to escape any physical problems, other than a scrape on his right front quarter, according to Mott.

Mott said jockey Jose Ortiz told him Tacitus “was playing around a little bit the last eighth of a mile. Now, I don’t know, could he have been tired? [Ortiz] thought he had a little more gas in the tank, but [Tacitus] wasn’t giving him everything.”

Mott said the Travers is still the objective.

“We would certainly want to do that, that’s been the goal,” Mott said. “He jogged good, came back good, hopefully we’ll be there.”

Racing fans hope Maximum Security is also there. Maximum Security won the Florida Derby and finished first in the Kentucky Derby only to be disqualified and placed 17th for interfering with several horses approaching the top of the stretch.

Following a loss to King for a Day in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth on June 16, Maximum Security came back to win the Grade 1 Haskell at Monmouth on July 20.

After initially planning to send Maximum Security to Saratoga early, trainer Jason Servis has changed his mind and decided to keep him at Monmouth to train. He said the Travers is still on his radar.

“If the horse is good, I’m gonna run him,” Servis said Sunday at Saratoga. “There’s no reason to sit in the barn if you’re doing good.”

Maximum Security is owned by Gary and Mary West as is Game Winner, last year’s 2-year-old champion who won the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on July 13. Trained by Bob Baffert, Game Winner is in training at Del Mar and expected to ship here the beginning of Travers week.

One horse whose Travers status is very much in doubt is War of Will, the Preakness winner who finished fifth in the Jim Dandy. Trainer Mark Casse said Sunday he had no legitimate excuse for the performance and would talk to owner Gary Barber about the colt’s future before making any decisions on the Travers.

“It’s something that Gary and I are going to have to discuss soon, but I sure wouldn’t have the confidence that I had previously,” Casse said.

Others likely to point to the Travers are Highest Honors, winner of Friday’s Curlin Stakes, Code of Honor, the Kentucky Derby runner-up and Dwyer Stakes winner; Owendale, the Ohio Derby winner; and Everfast, the Preakness runner-up. Possible starters include Endorsed and Looking At Bikinis, second and third, respectively, in the Curlin, and Laughing Fox, fourth in the Jim Dandy.

Two horses who will not be pointed to the Travers are King for a Day, the Pegasus winner who finished fifth in the Haskell, and Joevia, the third-place finisher in the Belmont Stakes. Both horses are getting a break, according to their connections, with Joevia likely to be pointed to a 4-year-old campaign, according to trainer Gregg Sacco.

- additional reporting by Mike Welsch